Paul of the UK,
As far as the the electric chair goes I really dont know what voltage it is, all I know is that when they were going to 'Fry' Ted Bundy, a radio station in Fla was asking everybody not to use any power, until it was over,,,.. bordering on the macabre, but it is lethal.
As far as the De-fib unit My source works in a intensive cardiac care unit and their method is as I described and their is no thought about what the body resistance is, If the patient is in shock they are cold and clamy anyway which has got to reduce the body resistance.
My whole point was the environment in which this takes place, an electric shock and the severity of the shock will be dependant on the prevailing conditions, ie if you are standing ankel deep in water a 50-70 volt jolt is probably more than enough to be lethal. And as someone pointed out Ohms law works,.. always
Since we have been talking about DIYers, I remember one telling me he never worried about 'House-hold current because it was only 110 volts', as strange as that was, the US Navy came out with a training film, many moons ago called, "110 volt, the deadly shipmate", and very graphically drives the point home, one shot i remember to this day is some Steward sticking a metal knife in a toaster... Respect is what it is all about.
Mark
